Beancounters at Morgan Stanley have added up some numbers and divided by their shoe size and worked out that 5-6 million of Pixel and Pixel XL mobiles will be sold this year.

This will make Google about $3.8 billion in revenue. The numbers men also predict that the Pixel will sell three million units in the final three months of 2016, making a cool $2 billion of revenue. Of course the Tame Apple Press is doing its best to say that these figures are nothing like what their favourite toy maker makes with its iPhone.

Morgan Stanley admits the Pixel will be half as profitable for Google as the iPhone is to Apple, because it has better and more expensive materials.It is a terrible thing when a tech company suffers because it puts in better quality parts. The Pixel phone will generate a 22 per cent -25 per cent gross profit margin,varying according to the model. The iPhone 7's gross margin is at around 41 per cent.

Google makes its mone from what Morgan Stanley's analysts refer to as "Android user monetisation."

People spend three times more money on iOS shopping apps than they do Android ones, but some of the Pixel's features will help close this gap, Morgan Stanley said.

Features unique to the Pixel, such as the Google Assistant, the Pixel camera, and Daydream (Google's virtual reality headset, which works with the Pixel), plus the smartphone's deeper app integration, increased prominence of Android Pay, and improved computing power (compared to other Android devices), will ultimately lead to users spending more money on Android, according to the research note.

Morgan Stanley's analysts predict that these features could see the Pixel driving higher mobile search monetization for Google as advertisers will spend more to reach the consumers who spend the most on their mobiles.

Troubled maker of smartphones HTC has denied rumours that it could be about to flog off its smartphone business.

The rumours had been picked up largely because HTC has not been doing very well, the company was not Apple and the Tame Apple Press does love to pretend that only Jobs’ Mob makes money from smartphones.

Now according to the Taiwanese media, HTC has denied those rumors and is refusing to ever speak of it again. So to make up for this lack of a quote the Tame Apple Press has continued to rubbish HTC and implied that it really is going to flog off its smartphone business but “the official stance” is that isn’t.” Apparently, HTC’s alternative is to go into VR – yeah that will sort it out.

We feel sorry for HTC because it generally makes good gear, has Google’s Pixel as a contract, but does not seem to get a lucky break.

The latest bare bones Android handset is actually easier to mend than the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Note 7 according to iFixit.

iFixit took the new Google Pixel XL apart to see how it faired in terms of its reparability, and even though it was not close to 10, it faired better than Samsung’s latest efforts.

The repairability score for the new Pixel XL was in fact 6 out of 10, compared to 3 out of 10 for the Galaxy S7 and 4 out of 10 for the troubled Note 7. Apparently the iPhone 7 is a bit better, but then no one would dare open the back of one of those.

One of the highlights that the team points to is the modular nature of the phone which mean that many of the components can be easily replaced, which makes the phone easier to repair.

The HTC battery has a pull tab, which makes it easy to remove and replace, as well as the phone’s front 8 megapixel and back 12.3 megapixel cameras.

The phone does have a few problems – the display comes in a thin frame, which is easy to bend or damage. The midframe is aslo secured by snug, press-fit notches that make its removal tricky

It looks like that if you order the Pixel by Google Phone, you might get one in the US on October 20th. It looks like that first batch includes both the smaller 5-inch and 5.5-inch version and is tailored for the Verizon network.

Google and Verizon will offer both Pixel and Pixel XL phones but you probably won’t like the pricing. The Pixel 32GB with 5-inch screen starts at $649 and will be available in black, very silver, quite black or really blue. The 128GB version will sell for $749.99 or $31.24/mo. For 24 months.

The bigger Pixel XL starts at $769.99 for the Snapdragon 821 powered 32GB version and comes with a 5.5-inch screen. The 128GB version will comes with $869.99 retail price or 24 times $36.24 /mo.

The fact that Samsung just recalled and killed all the Note 7 and left a big gap just days before the big holiday shopping season is definitely helping Google’s effort.

It is also important to notice that Pixel and Pixel XL both come with a Snapdragon 12 modem capable of 600Mbps DL / 75Mbps UL depending on carrier support. The theoretical maximum of the modem is 150 Mbps upload in case the carrier supported but one more interesting thing is that Pixel and Pixel XL support Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2x2 MIMO. The 2x2 MIMO part can theoretically beat most of the phone to market and give you almost double the performance compared to most phones on the market which don’t support MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output).

Snapdragon 821 has been announced by ASUS ZenFone 3 Deluxe, Xiaomi Mi 5s, Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus but still hasn’t shipped at least not in US or Europe. It looks like that Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL will be two commercially available devices with top of the notch specification and probably the best Nexus – artist now known as Pixel devices to the market.

There is no doubt that Xiaomi will offer the device with better prices, but again, as far as we know Xiaomi doesn’t have plans to officially announce the Xiaomi Mi5S for the US market. However resourceful individuals will find a way how to import them if they really want to. LeEco Le Pro 3 should also ship after October 20th and this Snapdragon 821 with 6GB RAM 64GB Storage with 5.5-inch screen will sell for amazing $379.99, roughly half of what Google wants to charge for Pixel XL.

The other Snapdragon 821 device that is expected is soon to be announced Xiaomi Mi Note 2.

According to new estimates from Digitimes Research, the recently announced Google Pixel smartphone is expected to reach 3 to 4 million shipments in the second half of this year, giving a 10 percent increase in HTC’s total smartphone shipments from the first half.

Google’s latest Pixel and Pixel XL devices come in 5-inch and 5.2-inch display sizes and feature a quad-core Snapdragon 821 processor, a 12.3-megapixel rear camera, an 8-megapixel front camera and look very similar to Apple’s iPhone from an aesthetic perspective. Pricing is also very similar, as the Pixel starts at $649 for 32GB and the Pixel XL starts at $769, while the iPhone 7 is also $649 for 32GB and the iPhone 7 Plus is $769 for 32GB.

Recently, the performance of the latest Snapdragon 821-powered flagship Android devices has become a recent site of investigation, When averaging the top eight Geekbench 4.0.1 scores sorted by multi-core performance, the results show the Pixel and Pixel XL receiving scores of around 1,603 single-core and 4,106 multi-core, still lower on average than the iPhone 6S (2,506 / 4,320). Meanwhile, the A10-powered iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus manage scores of around 3,473 single-core and 5,707 multi-core.

For the most part, the Pixel and Pixel XL seem more in line with the HTC 10 (1,745 / 3,961) and LG G5 (1,699 / 4,108), both of which feature the Snapdragon 820 with 2.15GHz high-performance cores and 1.6GHz power-efficient cores. The Snapdragon 821 features two 2.4GHz high-performance cores and two 2GHz power-efficient cores, meaning Google’s Pixel smartphones should be at least 10 percent faster than these devices, but this does not seem to be the case in this benchmarking utility for now.

Battery life is another story entirely, and this is where the Snapdragon 821 shows improvement over Snapdragon 820 devices including the previous Nexus 5X and 6P. Internet browsing over LTE improves by 60.2 percent over the Nexus 5X and 30 percent over the 6P, while talk time improves about 30 percent over the Nexus 5X and 13 percent over the 6P, according to a list compiled independently by Reddit user TyGamer125.

Pixel, Pixel XL will be 40 to 50 percent of HTC shipments

Meanwhile, Google’s launch of the HTC-manufactured Pixel smartphones is projected to increase HTC’s total handset shipments to around 6.5 and 7 million units by the end of the year, up from between 5.8 and 6.1 million units in the first half.

According to Luke Lin, a senior analyst at Digitimes Research, Pixel shipments should account for around 40 to 50 percent of HTC’s total smartphone shipments in the second half of this year.

Back when it appeared that Google was finally going head to head with flagship offerings from other companies, including Samsung's Galaxy smartphone or even Apple's iPhone it seems the firm has a long way to go.

Although the price of Google's latest Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones suggested that these might be joining the smartphone flagship lineup, a couple of leaked benchmarks, including Antutu, Geekbench 4 and Basemark benchmark results.

As we wrote earlier, Google's Pixel starts at US $649 for the 32GB and US $749 while the Pixel XL starts at US $769 for the 32GB version and US $869 for the 128GB version, and this is pretty much in line with what Apple is asking for its iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The same goes for Samsung, which has a cheaper Galaxy Note 7 flagship, as well as the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge, which start at around US $670 and US $790, respectively, which is just slightly more than the Google Pixel smartphones.

Google's latest smartphones are pretty much in line with Apple's latest iPhone 7/iPhone 7 Plus and Samsung's Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, offering similar camera performance and both having and lacking some of the features, such as the IP67/68 rating.

Google's Pixel smartphones both use the same chipset so these should have pretty much the same performance, at least in benchmarks. In earlier leaked Geekbench 4.0.1 benchmark, Google Pixel managed to get a 1659 single-core and 3951 multi-core score, which is behind Apple iPhone 7, which hits around 3430 in single-core and 5600 in multi-core. When compared to Apple, this score is close to iPhone 6S Plus, hitting pretty much the same result.

Since Google Pixel and Pixel XL are based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 821 SoC, these should give a pretty the same score as the LeEco Le Pro 3, which was earlier spotted in this benchmark with a score of 160856. Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus push out 170124 and 172644, respectively.

The latest result comes from Basemark and we only get two results from Google's Pixel XL, Basemark X 1.1 and Basemark OS II 2.0. In Basemark X 1.1, the Pixel XL barely catches the Galaxy S6 Edge, let alone Samsung's this year flagship. In Basemark OS II 2.0, the Pixel XL is just behind the Apple iPhone 6S.

After all, it appears that Google's flagship price for its new Pixel smartphones does not come with flagship performance and both Samsung and Apple are safe.

Google has now severed its connection to the affordable Nexus lineup as it has unveiled two premium smartphones, the Pixel and Pixel XL.

Built by HTC but still coming only with the Google logo, the Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones will cover the two most popular sizes, 5-inch and 5.5-inch, respectively. Both smartphones will feature AMOLED screens but with different resolutions, 1080p and 441ppi on the Pixel and 1440p and 534ppi on the Pixel XL.

Although having a different size and resolution screens, both the Pixel and Pixel XL are fairly similar, both packing Qualcomm's Snapdragon 821 SoC with quad-core Kryo CPU and Adreno 530 GPU, 4GB of RAM, 32GB or 128GB of storage and same rear 12-megapixel, 1.55µm main camera with f/2.0 aperture and Electronic Image Stabilization, which was quite impressive during the live demo.

The only other difference that we are currently aware of, is the battery size, as the Pixel comes with a 2770mAh one while the Pixel XL packs a much larger 3450mAh battery.

As expected, both Google smartphones will use Android 7.1 Nougat OS, which will include sustained performance mode, detailed earlier, and offer unlimited Google Photos storage for all photos at full resolution.

As it has decided to ditch the Nexus-branding, Google also ditched the affordable price, so Pixel and Pixel XL will have a premium price, starting at US $649 for the Pixel and US $769 for the Pixel XL. In the UK, these will start at £599 for the Pixel and £719 for the Pixel XL.

As you can see from the pictures, both the Pixel and Pixel XL will be available in Quite Black, Very Silver and Really Blue color options, although the Blue one will be exclusive to the US.

The Pixel and Pixel XL will first come to the US, Australia, Canada, Germany and the UK and be available for pre-order in the next few days, with first shipping later in October.

Google recently released a short preview on YouTube indicating it will be launching two new flagship smartphone devices on October 4th in San Francisco.

Although the devices have yet to receive official names, reports indicate they are the two Nexus devices that appeared earlier this year, codenamed “Sailfish” and “Marlin.”

On Monday, Google confirmed the existence of both devices by launching a new site specifically for the upcoming launch of a new line of smartphone devices. The site refers to something “made by Google,” although the company has not given the devices any formal names just yet.

Back in February, a report suggested that Google CEO Sundar Pichai and his team in the Android department are signaling that the company wants to reduce the level of involvement its hardware partners currently have over the Nexus smartphone lineup and take a more hands-on approach to its products, similar to what Apple is doing with its mobile devices. The shift from a horizontal development strategy to a more top-to-bottom approach suggests that HTC could be the company’s last partner before it releases any self-branded devices in the Nexus lineup down the road.

For now, however, it is confirmed that HTC is the sole manufacturer of the upcoming Sailfish and Marlin devices, according to the FCC filings. What will be interesting is how the camera units on these devices perform next to the HTC 10, considering any similarities in the design and manufacturing process.

Two FCC filings from HTC originally appeared in August listing devices with model numbers G-2PW2100 and G-2PW4100, along with a statement that the user manuals can be found at Google’s Nexus product page when they later become available. Given that both model numbers include the letter “G” at the beginning, some speculate that the devices may feature a new naming scheme, given the company’s shift to a self-branded product lineup.

4.99-inch and 5.46-inch displays

Image source: One By Tech

Recently, the display assemblies for both devices appeared on the eBay store page of One By Tech, a supplier in Hong Kong. The smaller device was shown with a 4.99-inch display, while the larger one is 5.46-inches.

Both devices running Android 7.1

As we wrote last month, the Sailfish device is expected to feature a 5-inch (4.99-inch) 1920x1080 display with a quad-core Snapdragon 820. This chip has two Kryo cores at 2.15GHz, two power efficient cores at 1.60GHz and an Adreno 530 GPU. It will include 4GB of RAM, at least 32GB of storage, a fingerprint reader, a 12-megapixel rear camera, a 7-megapixel front camera, and it should run Android 7.1 at launch.

The Marlin device is expected to feature a 5.5-inch (5.46-inch) 2560x1440p AMOLED display with a quad-core Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB of memory, at least 32GB of storage and a fingerprint reader on the back. It will include a 13-megapixel rear camera, an 8-megapixel front camera and should run Android 7.1 at launch.

It was also revealed by NexusBlog that Google’s upcoming Nexus devices should be available on the Google Play Store at $449 and $599 for the 32GB models, although other reports suggest higher pricing. It has been reported that Google will offer 128GB options as well, removing the middle 64GB option like a certain competitor did recently, but the 32GB prices are the only ones that have been reported to date.

According to the latest rumor, Google's Huawei-made 7-inch tablet will be released before the end of this year.

The information comes from Evan Blass, better known as @evleaks, confirming that the device will be released before the end of the year. While there is no more information, the lack of the Nexus brand in the Tweet suggests that Google might have completely killed the Nexus brand and will focus on the new Pixel brand, as previously rumored.

There is not a lot of information regarding the device, other than it will have a 7-inch screen and come with 4GB of RAM.

Google's Huawei-built 7-inch tablet, with 4GB RAM, on track for release before the end of the year.

The same 7-inch successor of the 2nd-generation Nexus 7 has already been teased earlier as Huawei has already trademarked the device as the 7P, which kicked off rumors that the device might end up with a Google Pixel 7P name.

There is a rumor that Google will be hosting an event on October 4th, where the company may unveil two new smartphones, rumored as Pixel and Pixel XL, as well as the new Chromecast device, but it is still not clear if it will be the event for the new 7-inch tablet as well.

Hopefully, we will hear more as we draw closer to the end of this month.

Google has always marketed Chromebooks as cheap everyday notebooks, but it looks like it has just turned a new page by announcing its newest 12.85-inch Google Chromebook Pixel. All would be well if that new page did not look like it was taken out of Apple's textbook.

Chromebook Pixel aimes to grab some of that glory from the unbeatable but expensive Macbook Air with its 12.85-inch 2560x1700 (239 ppi) touchscreen hidden behind Gorilla Glass. As you can notice, the screen ends up with a rather strange 3:2 aspect ration designed to better fit web content and accoridng to Google's Chrome VP Sundar Pichai, this is a notebook on which you'll never ever see another pixel in your life.

Design wise, the Google Chromebook Pixel is machined from anodized aluminum and weighs 1.52kg/3.35 lbs. It measures 297.7x224.6x16.2 mm and uses some sort of "active cooling" with no visible vents.

Specification wise, the new Chromebook Pixel features a 1.8GHz clocked dual-core Core i5 CPU, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 4GB of RAM and either 32 or 64GB of SSD storage depending on the model. In case you are worried about storage, you will be happy to know that Google threw in a hefty 1TB of 3-year free Google Drive storage with every Pixel. The model with less storage will also be limited to WiFi, while the 64GB one will come with Verzion LTE, at least in the States.

It also features three microphones, 720p HD camera, custom Chrome backlit keyboard, two USB ports, mini DisplayPort output, SD card reader, WiFi and Bluetooth for connectivity (and LTE on bigger model). It features a 59Wh battery that should be enough to keep it running for up to 5 hours of active use, at least according to Google.

Now comes the bad side of the story as it is a direct competitor to the 13-inch US $1,499 MacBook Pro with Retina Display, which is by the way a much better system, the Google Chromebook Pixel starts at US $1,299 for the WiFi-only 32GB model, shipping next week, and US $1,449 for the 64GB one which will be available in early April.